This is a rant & I’m admittedly bitter. You have been warned. Still though, I think this is useful info & am curious to see if others disagree – that they were NOT misled on these issues. The “sources” for the following myths are from my BF education - which consisted of a compilation of:
Books: Dr. Sears “The Baby Book,” the older version (back in 2008) of “The Womanly Art of BFing,” Dr. Jack Newman’s BF book, Sheila Kitzinger’s BF book
90 minute BF class given by an LC at the hospital where I had my DS (a very baby-friendly hospital), 3 pediatricians at my pedi office, a handful of LLL meetings, reading Kellymom & MDC.
1. What you eat doesn’t impact baby (with the exceptions of rare allergies & caffeine.)
I learned the hard way that this is not true when, at 6 weeks old, I had 2 bowls of black bean soup for dinner & the next day DS was inconsolably crying & farting a lot. THEN I read in Dr. Sears book that foods that make Mom gassy can make baby gassy too. Awesome.
2. Small breasts are not a problem – breast size is irrelevant.
This is what I call a “Factoid” – there is a tiny bit of truth hidden amongst what is an overall falsehood. The true part is that we small-breasted CAN make enough milk.
The falsehood part is that breast size is irrelevant. Not so. We can have a “storage capacity” problem – so we only make enough milk in total (all day long) if we BF frequently. I BF my son for 2 years & thought I’d learned a lot in that time & the time prior to DD’s birth. But I had NEVER heard of the concept of “storage capacity” until it was YET ANOTHER thing I learned the hard way.
3. As long as you BF on-demand, you are good to go. (Baby can sleep longer stretches at 3 mos + of age. Let baby sleep, BF on-demand, it’s fine.)
DD, at 3 mos old, started sleeping 8-10 hours a stretch at night. My pedi told me to stop worrying, she’s growing, she’s fine, let her sleep. Then at 4 mos, her weight gain had dropped precipitously & my supply took a dive.
So perhaps this one is true for some women, but me of the low-storage capacity, I was hosed.
4. As long as baby is BF on–demand, seems content post-feeding, is peeing & pooping within recommended thresholds, & weight gain was adequately established with regular checkups the first 3 mos, you are good to go.
NOPE, your baby can be “happy to starve.” Great news, eh?
DD had NO SIGNS that she wasn’t getting enough – none at all. As matter of fact, was MORE happy from 3-4 mos old when she, undoubtedly wasn’t getting enough. AND she was EXCEEDING all her developmental milestones!!
So looking at those guidelines of wet & dirty diapers, # daily feeds, contentment, even developmental milestones is NOT adequate to make sure baby is getting enough.
5. If you can BF for 6 weeks, you can BF for 6 mos.
Another “factoid.” I do agree the first few weeks are hardest (torturous with my DS because my nipples cracked, total agony for 4 weeks, moderate agony for another 3 weeks from there.) But it still simply isn’t true.
Also – prolactin levels take a dive around 3 or 4 mos, so baby can “live on the letdown” in the meantime. Prolactin can make enough milk flow for baby to gain sufficiently even if baby has a lousy suck. But when the prolactin levels decline, then you’re in for it. So on the contrary, problems can EMERGE later.
Plus, see low capacity when baby starts sleeping longer.
6. Nipple pain is always due to a bad latch or some other “problem” or you are doing something “wrong.”
This dogmatic mantra made me BONKERS with my son. Absolutely bonkers. For one thing, my nipples cracked! I met with 4 different LCs & they parroted this. Then they’d say, “So let me check your latch.” They would check, then say, “It looks good.” I stood there just baffled… “Sooooo… what am I doing wrong because this is the same latch I’ve had all along?”
One of them actually said to me, I kid you not, “Oh, wait, YOU MOVED! Look, the latch slipped, you have to keep the latch good the whole time.” I suspected even at the time that she only said that because she had no idea & she wanted to say something but I ignored my instincts on that. I was in such pain, that I was desperate for an answer that could lead to a solution, so I started BFing with my whole body locked RIGID & ended up with lots of neck & shoulder pain as a result of her brilliant advice. Awesome.
No one had the sense to just say to me, “Of course you are in pain, your nipples are cracked! You’re doing well, keep at it, they will heal.”
Not only that, but pain at first is more common than not. Stop telling women they’re “DOING IT WRONG.”
7. Baby should BF less frequently as he grows older.
See low storage capacity problem. Baby’s tummy may increase in size, but my breasts aren’t getting any bigger as she grows!! My abysmal storage capacity remains abysmal, so fewer daily feedings & longer intervals between feedings aren’t going to fly. Stop saying this!
8. Women rarely have a problem with supply if they BF on demand
WRONG! A study showed 5% “unexplained” low-supply. Folks, that is NOT an insignificant number.
Then there is the low-storage capacity thing. I did BF on demand. But my supply couldn’t survive the long stretches of sleep at night because of my low storage capacity.
9. Any problems are generally attributed to “booby traps” – things that undermine BFing, or perhaps physical issues. But generally, there is some ‘cause’ to point to if things aren’t going well. --> Generally without a specific problem, things work.
Per above, 5% unexplained low supply is not insignificant. Stop making those of us in this camp (i.e. “very well educated & tried really hard & still had problems” camp) feel like failures.
NATURE GETS IT WRONG SOMETIMES. BFing doesn’t work sometimes. Stop making it out to be OUR FAULT by saying the above.
OK, I think I’m done.
